Through the Flames (Re Write)
by DragoonMach5
Summary: (Re written, skill has improved, The original is also still around to compare) After his defeat, Magolor ends up in the inferno.He meets and befriends Marx and other villains who have all fallen to Kirby's skill. As they band together to gain the keys to a second chance on the surface, secrets are revealed, souls are unbound, and the past comes back to haunt both Magolor and Marx.
1. Chapter 1

There was only darkness, nothing else. A Weightless, groundless space that seemed to softly rock his body back and forth; like a mother cradling her child to sleep. This strange void felt warm and welcoming than cold like darkness is thought to be. He tried to open his eyelids slowly, trying push away the weights sleep had placed on them. But he was unsuccessful for a while, fading in and out of consciousness. Finally after several minutes, his lids stayed open. But they were only strong enough to lift halfway. He expected to see a light, something bright enough to at least wake him up completely. He ended up blinking several times expecting that light. Strangely what was consciousness and what was unconsciousness pretty much looked the same. Black.

_Where am I?_ He thought to himself. The creature finally gained enough consciousness to keep himself up and thinking. Now he needed to know if he could move. He tried to lift his body vertically in the empty space. Shouldn't be too hard in a groundless space. He started to lean forward just a little, and already his muscles tensed up in protest. For a simple task, it is taking a surprising amount of effort. The creature grunted from the pain, but he pushed on. After several minutes, He held out his mitten covered hand in front of his golden eyes. "Finally" he said, exhausted. His gloves seemed to almost glow in this unusual darkness. The creature reached behind him and pulled his cape around. It was also visible, pure white as it always had been. He spun around and realized his whole body was visible in the dark, bright as day._ am I dreaming? _He held his drowsy head, rubbing it softly. His two cone shaped ears were still there. "I'm as Halcandran as I've ever been." He said out loud. _How long was I out for? I can't even remember what I did this morning. _He dug around in his mind, looking for some clue of what happened to him.

He closed his eyes again to concentrate. His mind finally brought about a different color: Green. A jade green, oval shape, glowing, like an eye, a familiar eye. Soon in his mind emerged eight glowing green eyes, the faint silhouette of a four headed creature. It was a dragon-like creature with some golden object on its upper most head. He can barely see the fearsome scowl on its face. With sharp teeth pulled back in a snarl, the dragons were starting straight into the creatures eyes.. _Landia…_His voice quivered even in his mind.

The scene quickly shifted and the dragon faded there were sirens ringing in a pure white hull, flashing white to red and back. A computer screen franticly flashing images, words in foreign languages, pointing out areas of a boat like spaceship. _My, my ship!_ The air around started to become as uncomfortably hot as the red that flashed inside the ship.

He started to have an influx of memories. Vivid colorful flowers, luscious grass, fruitful trees, serene blue sky with wispy clouds. It was as beautiful as a painted picture, only real. The wind was calm and air was warm like spring. A paradise was where his ship crashed, thought to be beyond repair. Then far in the image was a pink dot, it became closer, revealing it's face.

_Kirby?_ He wiped the sweat the started to damp his forehead. He held his gut hoping he could calm the butterflies that pop out of his stomach. He didn't know wither to feel happy or absolutely terrified.

Now there were soft sounds. Whispers, Voices, becoming progressively louder. The world around them started to become dark, it turned to night. The calm breezes had stopped but the summer like heat remained and grew stronger.

"Kirby beat the dragon," the voice hissed. It sounded an awful lot like his own, the halcandran wonder for a moment if he was the one who said it. The scenery changed and Landia returned. She split into four smaller dragons, knocked out cold. They lied beside a lava pool at the top of a volcano. Kirby stood before their bodies, flailing his stubby pink arms and dancing on his red feet with a smile on his face. There were three other silhouettes but they were blurry, shadowy figures, perhaps they weren't as important.

_And…and the-_

"And the crown….you got the crown," He heard his own voice reply, but it was deeper and sinister. The dark void had returned and the temperature was now uncomfortably stifling. He began to breathe heavily, pulling his white scarf from his face to breathe for a moment. A mirror emerged from void, facing the halcandran. He saw himself in his blue regal outfit, white cape and his blue cap with the crown on top of it. "Limitless power." He saw his body transform into a red gaseous body, his hat become black and resembled a jester hat. The mittens he wore turned to gloves with violet, sun emblems floating behind them. His scarf that covered his mouth was now black against his white face and purple eyes.

_The crown, The glory….the POWER._ He felt the air become hot and his skin felt a burning sensation He thought: _You had it all Magolor, the world, no; the ENTIRE UNIVERSE was your oyster! What happened?!_

"And then Kirby took it from you, the crown and it's power." The voice replied in a deepened almost monstrous voice. He saw Kirby in his green sword cap with needles and a star on its crest .The pink ball had a valiant, white glow and an angry expression on his cute face. He pulled the Ultra Sword, a blade 10 times higher than himself and ruthlessly slashed it toward Magolor's powerful form. One. Two. Kirby enlarged it even further, preparing for the third strike. Magolor moved backward from the mirror, covering his eyes from his own demise.

_No…No…NO…..NO!_ but the visions of his memories began to flood back, the plan, the power, the betrayal. No matter how hard he shut his eyes, he could shove his mistakes away.

"…and he left you to die."

_SWISH!_ A slight pause before Magolor began to watch himself explode and disintegrate to nothing. The entire picture of the memory shattered like glass as it faded white.

Magolor opened his eyes to the black become a crimson red. A horrible burning scent filled the air. The floating feeling before now was plummeting at an incredible velocity. The sweltering sensation he felt before became far worse, Magolor found it downright painful and unbearable. He raised his hand slowly as it ached in pain, the tip of the mitten began burn away and reveal his brown hands. The skin began to form sickly red swelling blisters that burst into small fumes of fire. The blisters multiplied and burst until the entire hand became engulfed in white hot flames. The flames spread up his cape and body (fortunately he had no legs or feet) it engulfed his hat and every part of his body but his eyes. His whimpering and cries became shrieks and bloodcurdling screams.

Magolor became like a white fireball, falling through the crimson abyss. The falling speed was enough to force his wide eyes from ever closing. They feel like sandpaper, dry, red and irritated from winds. _Death! _he thought underneath his scream. _That's all I want right now, death!_ Below, the reddish color turned deep purple, it gained gas-like texture.

"Such a foolish child…" the mimicking voice echoed. The cloud grew closer, looking as endless as the abyss. "You're already dead." The instant the flames came in contact with the clouds, it hissed and dulled in intensity. But its fury was still enough to keep Magolor screaming.

_Dead!?_ He thought. _So then I'm going to the inferno? Hell? But! what did I do wrong?!_ It took only a moment for Magolor to realize that was a stupid question. He did not have all of his memories, but the ones he did have explained everything. The purple gas formed like a tunnel with a minuscule red light at the end. Was it simply more fire? It grew bigger, It grew bigger…bigger…._CRASH!_

The white fireball had hit not flames but solid sand, the white flames burned like a blinding large bonfire before finally dying out; leaving behind Magolor with his clothes only slightly charred by the flames but actually unharmed and intact, skin and all. The chill of the gust blew red sand onto Magolor's white cape. He moaned, and his body throbbed, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was a few, excruciating minutes ago.

The halcandran fought against his body's wishes and rose to a stand and slightly hovered over the ground as he had no feet. He wobbled a little before stabilizing himself, finally looking around at his new surroundings.

The desert sands were a bright red, creating a few rolling hills. The sky was reddish yellow with an abnormally large orange sun high above. The sun looked close enough that you could see its lava surface, as if it were straight from space. But auburn clouds covered a large portion of the sky. In the distance, he could see spread out dead trees on the sandy hills. The air was dry and scorching.

"Well… at least it's not a blazing inferno." Magolor spoke to himself out loud, he took another glance at the massive sun. "But close enough." A gust of wind blew strong against him and almost knocked him over. "I can't just stand here." He began to walk across the red, lifeless waste land. The temperature felt as though it were around 70 degrees, a very cool temperature for a place known as Hell. Let alone a place with a sun as close to surface as this one.

The only hellish part about this place was that there was no end in sight to this desert. Magolor had no feet to feel the pain of walking, but he felt the helplessness of time passing.

A sudden and powerful gash was lashed to the back of Magolor's head; it knocked him across the sandy hill and sent him tumbling down it. Magolor rose a little; he pulled down his white, blue belted scarf to spit out and wipe the sand that slipped into his mouth underneath, leaving a sensation more intense than a mint flavored gum. Before he could rise to his feet, he felt a sharp point on his back keeping him down. Magolor turned himself over to find a demonic looking Waddle Dee. It was darker tint than normal, friendly ones and it had narrow yellow eyes with small bat wings on its back and a spear in its hand; pointed at Magolor.

"Well now, what do with have here..." the Demonic Waddle Dee growled. Although it had no mouth, it's facial muscles seemed to form a sinister smile in the place it should be. Two more suddenly appeared behind him.

"Fresh meat?!" The one on the left shouted eagerly looked at the others. "Finally!"

"The best kind, no weapons carried over from their time livin'!" They came closer to Magolor and drew their spears, Circling around their prey. Magolor shivered. _But wait a minute, I'm already dead!_ he took another glance at the spear, it was sharp like a needle. _That doesn't mean I want to be eaten and spend forever in a stomach or worse!_

"Don't guys want to eat some one much bigger and tastier than me? I mean, I don't have anything on me that taste good any way!" Magolor pushed his hands out in pathetic defense.

"We don't get too many off of Pop Star anymore!" Said the middle one. "You're the first one we've had in five years!"

"Pop Star? I'm Halcandran! I'm not tasty at all" Magolor only visited Pop Star once, unwillingly.

"Even better! We only had one from there over 20 years ago, he tasted great!" They came closer. "It's like everyone there goes to heaven or something!" Magolor prepared himself for another painful session, he shut his eyes tightly. He was waiting for the first stab to pierce his gut. But he instead heard a high pitched screech. He quickly opened them to find one Demon Dee flying in the desert sun.

"What the-UFFF" another one was sent flying, by a… colorful beach ball?

"Wha? Hey!" The last one was sent away by the beach ball that relayed over Magolor's head. He is too stunned to realize he escaped a second death.

"Well now, look at who we have here…" On top the ball was a little lavender jester, with little brown shoes and a red bowtie. His eyes were large, but innocent and his jester hat was split red and blue. He had no arms however. "You're a new type of face, what did you in?" The jester bounced on his beach ball gleefully as he waited for a response. Magolor was speechless, he finally meet someone else who wasn't a demon…. or so it seems.

"Me? Well It's really complicated….let's just say I tried to take over the universe and a little pink ball ended up killing me…" He rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks for saving though!"

"Wait." He froze on top his ball. "Did you say a little, PINK ball. What was his name?" His black eyes concentrated on Magolor's golden eyes.

"…Kirby." Magolor was a little confused, but then he remembered the stories he heard of Kirby and feats against other villains. The jester looked down at his own feet and scowled.

"So you too? How did you fight him?" At the end the jester's words, a golden object fell from Magolor's cape, it was a golden crown. Magolor's eyes widened. The Master Crown was still with him? In his cape the whole time! It must have been destroyed along with him in his death.

"Errr…with this!" Magolor scrambled for the crown and showed to the jester. "The source of limitless power, the Master Crown!" The jester's jaw dropped, the shiny crown's glow reflected in dilated pupils.

_I heard the ancients created this too, but I thought any power greater Nova was a myth!_ The jester pondered. _Explains the power I sensed here. But does he know how to use the crown is a question also? Guess we'll find out soon enough._ "Well then" The jester leaped back onto his beach ball. "Unless you want to wander in this desert for endless years longer, you should come with me. I'm living with other beings of great power in a stylish mansion." A prideful smile appeared on his face.

"Wow, wait…REALLY?" Magolor jumped for joy, finally someplace comfortable and safe! And in a mansion at that! "Wait, a mansion?" Magolor questioned. "In hell?"

"Did I not say powerful beings in my sentence?"

"Okay, the entire time I've been here. There was only fire involved for the first 5 minutes. The rest is desert and demonic yet cute creatures eating anything that moves. And wouldn't the devil have something to say about you guys living comfortable in a mansion?... in hell?" Magolor questioned skeptically fold his invisible arms. The jester chuckled at how awkward the halcandran looked.

"If there's a devil that runs this place, then he's piss poor at his job. I have yet to see him." Jester said lowly. "Now you coming, or are you gonna ask twenty more questions. Cause I'll leave you here if that's the case."

Magolor became silent for a moment. "One more, do they have air conditioning in your mansion?" He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Any longer here and I'll bake and be even more tasty to those monsters!"

* * *

The pair were silent as they moved through the desert. In time they eventually reached a dirt path.

"It just down this road…." The jester turned to the Halcandran. "Say, what's your name anyway?"

"Me? Oh I'm Magolor."

"Magolor, eh? Well then Magolor, Name's Marx." Marx stopped bouncing on his ball. "Now know this. The only reason I allowed you to come was because you have the Master Crown and you fought Kirby. I don't know how you got it, but know that you better prove you know how to use that thing if you wanna stay with us." He stared Magolor down "You sure don't look too convincing."

Magolor gulped. "Okay." _That's if I even remember how to use it._

**-End of Chapter 1-**

**Author's Long Note: 4.5.2013**

**Its been a while hasn't it?**

**I know most of you returning to this story likely want to kill me for not making the sequel. But I had a ton of personal and school issues that kicked up later last year. Not to mention severe writer's block, and tending to my DA, which has also gone dormant to get my drawing drive back. Part of the reason I may have obtained the block is because looking back I thought I could have done MUCH better with this story and wanted to rewrite it.**

**Apparently I did not do so soon enough. It took me damn near a year after I finished the story to realize that. So I will be rewriting and retuning Through the Flames (I'm cutting off revenge because its makes the title too long and…bleech doesn't sound good) to the best of my ability. I changed a few details in terms of plot, there small right now, wither they get bigger or not is something I'll decide. Know that the changes in this chapter affect how Chapter 2 will be retuned. One thing I'm gonna try to do is tweak Marx's character a bit, looking back, some parts bothered me. (an understatement)**

**And yes, I'm aware that Kirby's Dream Collection is out and has revealed that Magolor is alive, well and made a heel face turn for good. Sadly I don't have the game (yet, but I already own a few of the classic games.) I wrote this JUST after Return to Dreamland came out. The heck can I do? Story wasn't canon to begin with ^_^'**

**DO NOT expect these to update quickly. It normally would not take me extremely long to update. But I have other projects, drawings, and original stories to attend too. And new video games to play. ;)**

**Until the next Deluxe chapter,**

**-DragoonMach5 (Have not referred myself as that in quite some time)**


	2. Chapter 2: New Home

**-Chapter 2- New Home- **

The depressing grey sky loomed over the steel city, it reflection in every massive dirt puddle in the city. The stench of tin and burnt metal roamed the streets. The city always looked incomplete, a construction site. Most houses looked like iron jungle gyms. There were few paved roads that lead to important buildings. Most adults leave their children home alone to work in the factories, but the Halcandran children were not bothered at all. They followed their parents' basic rules of maintaining the house and then went to play outside. They felt they own the town, knowing its layout down to the back allies. But there world was limited, stretching only as far as the city wall. It was a shield from the rest of Halcandra, which was nothing more than a volcanic wasteland. Very few left to live in those impossible conditions and even fewer survive. And those few would still tell anyone to this day they would rather live in a dangerous lava world than be bound to the laborious city.

Magolor sat on his worn, raggy chair, rubbing the exposed cotton that seeped out. The only sound in the small dismal room was the air conditioning. And what racket that machine made, endless clacking noises, last thing he needed was for it to go kaput and stop working. Its' already broken down twice in the past. But he preferred the racket to the commotion of the playing children outside, he wished they were at school. But school was only for five months, the teachers were hauled off to work at the factories. In fact most adults worked there, even teenagers as young as 13. The Halcandran turned to look at the chipped grey door, they would need a new paint coat pretty soon. He was waiting for the wonderful sound of the door unlocking and his mother and father coming through the door. They often said nothing coming in, but they embraced their son tightly with what little strength they had left.

Long after bed, Magolor would eavesdrop on his parents' conversation, hidden behind some furniture. It was during those times he learned some of what happened at the factories. His parents' had seen the head of the factories once, but never again. He wasn't Halcandran at all, a machine they described him as; a very terrifying machine. Lately they have been producing different material, war like material. His parents felt there was no reason to produce such things, but they knew they should never question anything, or else the last place they rest won't be home. Many bodies don't get a place to rest because there is nothing left of them. Tonight they told another tale of someone who wanted to rest early, he was sent to the furnace on the spot.

These topics were things a Halcandran child should never hear. The very topics that molded Magolor into the reclusive child he was. He was the only one who knew what would really happen to them all. He got up from the chair, pacing back and forth throughout the room, hands behind his back.

_When kids are afraid, they run right?_ He asked himself. Or they go to mom and dad. He stopped and stared at a blurred family photo on the wall, when Magolor was just an infant. The colors washed out from time, but the picture's color scheme fit well with the rest of the house. _Mom and Dad will be right with me!_ The Halcandran child gripped the photo tighter_. I'll be working hard right with them._ His heart sank. _I'll be sad right with them._

Egg Engines, that's what the kids called it. He never stuck around their conversations long enough to know why. But he didn't want to go there, and he wanted his parents to stop being sad there.

_So we run away. I'll find some way for us to run before it too late…_

* * *

"Hey! Wake up!" The jester kicked up some sand into the Halcandran's face.

"Arrrughh! Hey!" Magolor wiped out the sand from his eye. Whatever the sand was made of, it started burning his eyes as if a hot pan was searing them. "I can't see anything! I can't see! Can't see!" He toppled over and began rubbing his eyes with is cape.

Marx rolled his eyes. _Idiot…_ But he giggled at the Halcandran's misery anyway. He walked over toward Magolor, who was now recovering. "You're awful at first impressions you know."

"I'm sorry, I'm usually better at that sort of thing." Magolor brushed off the red sand from his tattered cape. His white scarf and cape were dirtied into an off white, pinkish color. "Why did you kick sand into my face again?"

"You just stood there, for around two minutes. I didn't even notice you stop walking behind me until I turned around!"

"Well you didn't have to kick that horribly tangy sand into my face! I coulda swore I went blind!" Magolor said annoyed. "You could have tapped me awake!"

"Do I look like I have arms to you?!"

"Nudge me then!"

"I'm not touching you!"

"Then say something!"

"I did! I said a whole bunch of stuff!"

"Then call my name! You couldn't have possibly forgotten it already!" Magolor put his hands on his hips.

Marx hesitated to respond. "No… no I didn't!"

"So what's my name then Marx?"

"…Mageror? Algor?"

Magolor pinched his forehead. "And you say I'm bad at first impressions."

"You know, this is the part where I would leave you here or just kill you. Literally the only thing protecting you in this dust bowl is the Master Crown."

"Listen, my memories are all messed up okay? I finally started to remember something past my whole incident with Kirby until you woke me up. I was having a flash back. So I'm sorry that lagged behind you. You don't gotta threaten to kill me."

"I would say that's bull crap, but that does happen when you land here. Some of your memories are gone for a while and they come back slowly. Whatever, let's keep going." Marx turned around. "and try not to fall behind again!"

* * *

Finally at the end of the barren desert, there was a cliff. The clouds completely blocked the intimidating sun. Over the cliff was terribly black, a bottomless pit.

"Why did it get so c-cold suddenly?" Magolor asked.

"You were just complaining it was hot. Anyway, there's a portal that should be here." Marx bounced on his ball, puzzled. _Nightmare forgot me again didn't he? _He turned to Magolor, who sat on a rock, in a position of deep thought. "An ally of mine is gonna open the portal in a few, so just hang tight for a bit." He gritted his teeth. _I know you know I'm here Nightmare…_

"Uh, yeah, I guess I can wait." Magolor replied, not turning his head to Marx. He stared into the brown overcast as if longing for something. _What was that strange voice that was talking to me before?_ He remembered it taunting him, reminding him that Kirby had ruined his plans in the first place. _But Kirby was…he helped me rebuild my ship and I was-_

"Grateful?" He heard his own voice in his mind reply. "Had it not been for me, you would be back on that miserable planet, working yourself down into your grave!" Magolor's eyes widened.

_That's not me, who are you? _Magolor clenched the ears in his hat. He shut his eyes tightly trying to dig deep in his mind to find who it was. No image. Nothing.

"Hey!" Marx crept up behind him. Magolor did not realize Marx had been watching him this entire time. "The portal's open." Marx said lightly. Behind him was a star shaped silhouette with astral space inside of it. "What's with you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, I was just…thinking about something." The Halcandran stared straight down at his hands and nervously rubbed them together, knowing that that voice was looming inside of him. Part of him wanted it to start talking again and give him some more answers. The other part of him did want the voice to talk ever again.

"Quit looking so nervous eh? Like I said, if you know how to use the crown good enough to impress them, you should be fine." Marx looked toward the portal. "Come on, let's go."

The other end of the portal lead them to an antique looking gate that surrounded a small hill. One door to the gate was left open, making a high creaking sound that echoed. Behind that was a large castle on top a grassy hill. It was at a distance, with a bright white moon looming behind it. It would have been the perfect background for an old horror movie title card, all it needed was storm clouds and lightening. The two began walking up the glowing walkway toward the eerie castle silhouette.

"What's with the grass?" Magolor asked, rubbing his hands. The grass of the hill was a dark green with strange splotches of purple here and there. The purple grass looked sickly and withered, but here and there were lovely black roses sprouting among them.

"I dunno, it's always like that. I wasn't the landscaper here. You shouldn't complain. Better a creepy castle than a desert, right?" Marx said dryly.

"Yeah, you're right." _I guess.._ he thought and he took another look at the patch before shifting his attention back to the castle ahead that was coming closer. The stone was a very dirty grey and worn looking like the castle been there for centuries. There was even moss seeping out of a few cracks here and there. The several roofs and domes on the building were dark violet with marble trim and borders. The windows were quite elegant looking, like brand new almost.

"Don't get me wrong Marx, this place is beautiful, but it's also creeping me out." Magolor felt those chills running up his spine as the castle features became more visible and closer.

"Assuming you stick around, you'll get used to it." Marx said without turning around. They approached the door. It was at least triple their tiny heights. The antique burgundy double door towered above them. Marx came up toward the door. The jester kicked the door open and the door flew back as if a hurricane burst them open. They rebounded off the walls slowly. Magolor jumped at the sight, the little creature already proved to be quite strong. Either that or the doors are long past their prime. The latter is more likely.

Inside looked like a refined and royal castle, completely opposite to outside. The walls were grey with a few purple drapes here and there (whatever is their fascination with the color purple) A few stands had oddly shaped vases and plants that shared the sickly plum color to outside's grass. The tiles on floor alternated from a greyish purple solid tile to a glass type on with a vision of endless space in a checkered pattern. In the back of the room was two staircases on either side that led to a balcony.

"Welp, here we are." Marx summoned his beach ball and bounced toward the regal hexagonal grey rug in the middle of the room.

"Whoa! Nice place you guys have here." Magolor's eyes wondered everywhere, spinning around and looking at everything. "Fit for a king or a whole royal family rather!"

"Why, thank you young stranger." A mysterious voice answered from a distance. Magolor froze at a ghostly silhouette as it materialized on left side of the balcony. It descend slowly down the stairs, revealing to be a sort of humanoid, vampire like phantom wrapped in a black cape. His skin was a deathly grey and wore what seen like sunshades above a sinister smile. "But we prefer the title 'divine' family."

"Oh, heheh alright then. Divine family it is!" The Halcandran nervously laughed.

"Oh yeah." Marx remembered something dully. "This is Nightmare. Nightmare this is Magolor, the guy with the Master Crown."

Magolor pulled the shiny crown from his back and held it out for all to see. Nightmare smiled evilly. "I see."

"Hey, uh, just a question or two." Magolor began. "If this is a pocket dimension away from Inferno's desert, then that means we have a lot of leeway. I would think we would be burning for all eternity and be tortured by demons. You guys wouldn't have time or the power to do all of this. Not to mention there was only fire involved for about five minutes, the rest was desert and demon waddle dees. Basically, I'm asking, what is this place really?"

"The flames are only in the beginning, during the decent." said another, deeper voice. This silhouette appeared to be completely round. "In reality, this world is survival of the fittest. The weak suffer and the strong live an endless life here. There used to be only one escape, a second death." It descended behind the clocked creature. I was like a giant fireball, with a small eyeball. Black with orange irises that have orange veins connected to them as though his eye was irritated.

"But a second death meant burn in an eternal fire." A ghastly, female voice echoed in the foyer. A tear shaped shadow appeared and rose from the ground into a solid figure. She had a purple hat and cape with rainbow bands on the borders and ribbons. Her yellow eye peeped out at Marx and Magolor.

Nightmare pushed past his two villainous colleges, towering over the two smaller creatures. "May I see the crown again Magolor?" He asked politely. Magolor did as he was told and held the shining item out toward Nightmare. The creature pushed up his sunglasses.

"So, _you_ slayed the great dragon Landia?" Nightmare's frightening face came closer to Magolor. The Halcandran visibly shuttered. Part of him was scared Nightmare would pull off his shades and his eyes would turn him to stone.

"Well not me, I tricked Kirby into slaying it and I took the crown. Despite the power I got, I wasn't able to beat Kirby." Magolor tilted his head down in shame.

"Interesting, you and Marx are alike. Both tricked Kirby to get what you want. I like that." Nightmare smiled, showing his white fangs. Magolor's eye shifted to Marx beside, who returned the stare. The jester showed a blank expression, not even a slight glare. "You see, we all had our share of battles with Kirby. We were all soundly defeated…" Nightmare frowned. "At least until now. Before I get into our plans however, I need proof that the Master Crown is still at full power and you are capable at wielding it." He pulled a skeletal hand from his cloak and pointed at the crown.

Magolor's heart started racing, tightly griping the crown of power in his hand.

"That's if he can even use it effectively at all." said the flame like eyeball.

"You don't believe in him Dark Mind?" Nightmare turned to the flame eyeball.

Mind snorted. "He looks about as frail as they come. Marx how did you even find this one out of the desert in one piece? I'm surprised he didn't get eaten by Demon Dees!" He brushed pass Nightmare, searing a bit of his cloak in the process. It stared down Marx and Magolor, only an arm length away from their faces.

"He almost did." Marx said bluntly. "Didn't use the crown either. He tried to plead with them."

For a split second, Magolor actually snapped out of his fear and shot Marx the most aggravated glare. _Way to stick up for me Marx! _

"But you're always the first one to rip someone a new one when they show up." Marx continued, annoyance coming up in his voice. "You did it to me and look what happened. You did it to Drawcia and look where she is now." He turned to the witch, whom remained silent. "Just because you're from the mirror world, that doesn't mean you're special. If you were, you wouldn't be down here."

"But I know for certain this one is a weakling!" Dark Mind barked back. "He has no power of his own! It's all from the crown-"

"Silence!" Nightmare shouted, quieting everyone.

Marx visibly winced at sudden outburst. His slightly annoyed expression broke into a disturbed frown. Magolor made a small smile underneath his scarf; he swore Marx had glanced at him for a moment.

"Magolor?" Nightmare's quiet tone spoke toward the Halcandran. "If you would please so kindly show us your abilities as the crown's wielder?"

"Uh, alright. Let hope this crown didn't lose its charm!" Magolor began to raise the crown to his head.

_You better hope you know what the hell you're doing with it._ Marx thought curtly. He didn't vouch for this guy for nothing…

As soon as it made contact, the crown began to glow along with Magolor's body. The Halcandran's little small body became red and gaseous. His face turned from brown to pure white and his golden eyes turned to purple. His blue hat became a black jester type hat and his white blue belted scarf became a black red belted one. His mittens turned to gloves with a sun like emblem that acted wrists.

"Now this is more like limitless power." Magolor's voice had become deep, dark, and almost monstrous. The Halcandran felt the rush that he felt before, that power that he always wanted. He clinched his fists. It felt great.

He opened his fists again and blood red energy orb slowly grew from his hands. With a flick of his fingers, the orbs bounced to the ground and exploded into a burst of fireworks. Marx jumped back a foot or two in shock. The wizard smirked under his scarf. He opened his palms and five dark pink pools of goo surrounded the jester. Marx's irises' shrunk. Before he thought to leap over them, Magolor snapped his fingers. In an instant, the pools shot up into hard sharp spikes that caged Marx in, preventing escape. After a moment, the spikes retracted and the pool faded away. The jester still sat in the middle, dumbfounded.

Magolor gently lowered himself to ground level, all eyes on him. He removed the crown and reverted back to his normal form. He slowly approached closer to Marx, thankful his scarf was hiding his huge but playful grin. "That was for kicking sand into my face earlier." Magolor chuckled

At first Marx scowled at him intensively, the Halcandran had pretty much embarrassed him in front the other villains. But then he smirked and chuckled a little. _So that's how you wanna play?_

Magolor took the chuckle in a good light, perhaps he impressed the Jester too.

Nightmare clapped. "I'm impressed."

"Better than I thought." Dark Mind begrudgingly admitted. Drawcia blinked several times, but said nothing.

"Well, I think we need to discuss a few things and make a few arrangements. We will bring you our final verdict on wither we will keep you around, or simply take the crown from you. Come along Drawcia and Dark Mind." The trio faded from the lobby, leaving Marx and Magolor alone in the foyer.

"I h-hope t-that was e-e-enough." Magolor stuttered. "I didn't use all my tricks."

"Should be," Marx actually reassured him. "So you just put your mind to using crown or what?"

Magolor rubbed the back of his head. "Not really, I just remembered some of my attacks and made the hand gestures. The rest just…happened."

There was a moment of silence between them. Marx studied the Halcandran hard. "Interesting." He finally said intrigued. _Easy to use then._ "Anyway, I'm gonna get you back for your little stunt. No one laughed on the outside, but I'm pretty sure Dark Mind was at the very least, cracking the hell up in his head." The jester scowled, but his expression softened to a calming smile. "But…nice job."

"Thanks Marx." Magolor looked down at the shining crown in his hands. It began to glow a reddish color.

The two stared at the crown for a moment before a strange pulse discharged from it, sucking all the color from the room. Sinister static and spark bounced off the crown and climbed up Magolor's hands, jumping onto the rest of his body. Marx tried to step back only to realize he remained cemented into the ground. The jester gritted his teeth as he tried to unstick his feet.

"Marx…" the Halcandran called out his name feebly, sounding as though he was drifting away. The jester stopped fidgeting and finally paid attention to him. Magolor remained still like a statue as the static seeped inside him, his features began to change. His scarf peeled away to reveal a broad creepy grin. Inside it was wriggling red iris that moved around aimlessly before finally locking on to the jester. Marx's eyes widened as the red eye's pupil contracted. It looked pretty pissed at him. His ears grew large and curled into ram's horns and his hat became a dark teal, tearing in a few places.

"Marx…?" Magolor said again. Becoming high pitched and surreal, sounding nothing like his normal voice. The… creature tilted his head to one side slowly, trying to show curiosity without using its horrifying facial features. "I know you can hear me." It said eerily calmly.

"This another one of your tricks?" Marx raised a brow, trying to keep composure.

"Who said it was one of his tricks?" The creature giggled.

"What are you talking about?" Marx asked seriously. But the creature only crackled more.

"I can do so much more than merely tricks. So…much… more…"

"Then who are you, if you're not Magolor?"

"I am part of his core. I am his power. Soon, I shall become him as a whole."

Marx paused. His confused expression became a smirk. "Didn't think you had sentience." The jester snickered. The pulse that discolored everything quickly retracted back into the crown. The room's color returned and so did Magolor's normal self. The jester sighed with relief as was able to finally lift up his feet again.

"M-Marx?" Magolor finally snapped out of his trance like state. He began to shiver as if the temperature in the room dropped significantly. "W-What just happened? Last I checked I couldn't move! And everything turned black!"

"Relax, you just blacked out." Marx said causally, summoning a blue ball this time to bounce on. "I would show you around but I'm too freaking tired." He yawned. "So you can go look around yourself." He bounced his ball lazily up the steps.

"I think I'll just go out in the yard and think a little bit instead." Magolor started toward the door, putting the crown back behind his cape toward his hammer space. "I need sort a few things out in my head." He grabbed the door knob. "and Marx?"

"What?" The jester called back on top the second floor. His eyes dropped, he would nod off any second if this guy didn't hurry up and say what he wanted.

"Thank you, I'm mean, you seriously rock for sticking up for me back there." Magolor smiled and pushed open the door.

"Mmmmhummm." Marx hummed in response and continued on his way. As soon as he turned his back, he smiled a little. The Halcandran wasn't so bad after all.

The Halcandran felt the fresh breeze fly toward him as he stepped outside. He stared at the stars that danced and twinkled in sky. As brilliant as space itself, maybe it was space.

_Wishful thinking_ he pouted in his mind. He was pretty far from space, deep as furthest depths could go. He moaned and buried his face into his hands, he craved to see space again. The stars fascinated him, the way they shined, the way they twinkled. Just beautiful lights in the sky; Hanging freely to shine in place. Magolor let out another sigh and looked down toward the white paved path underneath him. Dang, what a mess he got himself into.

_They said there was a way out… So at least there's some hope._

He pulled out the crown again. What a mysterious gleam it had to it, its golden reflection showed off the stars dancing in the sky.

"That was you who made me black out wasn't it?" Magolor questioned the object. "It's not hard to figure out it was you pretending to be me, from time you mentioned the word working. I started to figure it out. Only one thing could have saved me. So what do you want?"

_Why don't you come see me to find out?! _The distorted voice shrilled.

Magolor felt the very stability of the ground shift to one side. It's maniacal laugh filled Magolor's ears and amplified too much for him to bear. He grabbed his ears in a futile effort to block it out. The calm breeze became stronger and unpleasant, the wind chill washing over Magolor's skin like pins and needles. He toppled over and onto the ground. The Halcandran start screaming at the top of his lungs for help, but voice began to hiss and screech. Magolor reached his hand toward the sky, his vision darkening and swirling. The stars dimmed until they were no more. The ground felt as though it caved out from under him as the darkness swallowed up his hand and everything else.

**-End of Chapter 2-**

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I hated this chapter, if only you could hear the venom in my voice when I say that. I feel much better now that it's edited but still. I felt like I was trying too hard to make it scary when I first wrote it. -_-' **

**As you can tell, the old dialogue was mostly uprooted. All of Marx's lines got changed and more lines were added. I was aiming for 5000 words this chapter, just missed the mark by a few hundred words. Anyhoo, trying comparing this to the original Chapter 2 and lemmie know what you think.**

**My dearest apologies for taking so long, important stuff started crowding up. The worst of it is over, so I'll try to update a little earlier next time.**

**Until Chapter 3,**

**-DragoonMach5**


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